Thanksgiving Advice

[eyemgh]

I have the USFS Inyo Atlas too, but it has some flaws. For example the turn near Zurich onto Death Valley Rd just past the Owens River isn't on the map. It shows up labeled as 9S18 on the next page, but then tracing it through the pages, the road simply isn't there on the page flip at the entry to DVNP. Obviously it doesn't end.

Yes, 9S18 is the official number. Occasionally I've seen a road sign there with words that are consistent with the northern entry to Death Valley, so I never had to think about it very much. They don't want to make those roads seem too inviting. If they did, then there would be all sorts of dead tourists found much later. Those roads were there before that area officially became part of DVNP, so the signs and naming conventions have changed through the years.

Not to mention it isn't an official entrance. We have an annual interagency pass, so I feel OK about that. We travel those types of roads regularly in Oregon and NorCal, but we have the luxury of 1" scale maps.

[eyemgh]

My favorite way in from 395 (coming south) is the DV-Big Pine Road out of Big Pine. Especially for any of the more northern features of the park (Saline Valley, Eureka Dunes, Ubehebe Crater, or Racetrack). This is a main access road so gets pretty good attention and maintenance. Some sections will be washboarded, but I don't remember any clearance issues.

That section of road south from Crankshaft Junction used to be silly that it was so washboarded.

Before you go into Death Valley at Thanksgiving time, you really need to have a well-ordered set of priorities. There are too many things that can go wrong. Having said that, I can claim that my favorite spot is the Racetrack Valley.

HA! It was YOU that said Race Track Valley was your favorite area. I'm sure though now in context of it being a single day to a day and a half, that might be why your tune changed.

Again, helpful info!

Essentially, we'll hit the North Park sometime mid-morning on the 22nd and need to be at Ryan Campground at JTNP very late afternoon on the 23rd.

NOTE: Just watched a video where a guy took a RAM w/ a FWC into Steel Pass. It got too narrow and rocky for his rig and he had to turn around. Ours is only slightly smaller and not lifted, so anything tight and rocked like that would be out. We regularly give it the backcountry pinstripe package, but aren't keen on the can opener treatment or high centering alone.

[bobby49]

Essentially, we'll hit the North Park sometime mid-morning on the 22nd and need to be at Ryan Campground at JTNP very late afternoon on the 23rd.

I don't cover that much territory unless I am driving on good paved roads the whole way. The trick is that even the paved roads have a maximum speed limit of 45 mph within the park. The other trick is that DVNP is sufficiently off the beaten track (e.g. US 395) that there is a lot of time spent going in and out of the park from that side. There are lots of diverse roads going in and out from all angles, but none connect in an optimal fashion.

Consider this for another trip sometime. Plan out a long visit to DVNP, like say more than one week. Allocate so many days for hiking, so many days for examining the mining history, so many days for wildlife, etc. Plan most of this from some central base camp within the park.

[eyemgh]

Essentially, we'll hit the North Park sometime mid-morning on the 22nd and need to be at Ryan Campground at JTNP very late afternoon on the 23rd.

I don't cover that much territory unless I am driving on good paved roads the whole way. The trick is that even the paved roads have a maximum speed limit of 45 mph within the park. The other trick is that DVNP is sufficiently off the beaten track (e.g. US 395) that there is a lot of time spent going in and out of the park from that side. There are lots of diverse roads going in and out from all angles, but none connect in an optimal fashion.

Consider this for another trip sometime. Plan out a long visit to DVNP, like say more than one week. Allocate so many days for hiking, so many days for examining the mining history, so many days for wildlife, etc. Plan most of this from some central base camp within the park.

Getting back for an extended visit is certainly the plan.

For this trip, as The Band would say, "I just need some place where I can lay my head." We are/were planning on stopping in the Inyo just South of Mono Lake, but now I'm seeing that 120 closes in October. CURVEBALL!

We could just hightail it from wherever we end up near Lee Vining/Mono Lake to JTNP and spend two nights there. It's only a little over 6h.

We just thought we'd take it easy though and stop in DVNP along the way. Maybe entering as previously discussed and just taking Death Valley Road down to 190 and popping out at Death Valley Junction, stopping somewhere in the park along the way for the night.

The alternative is stay on 395 and find something else that's interesting between Mono Lake and JTNP or, shoot me now, take I-5 and cut over to Fresno and Bakersfield. NOOOOOOO!!!

This whole thread started as "How do I get from Ashland to JTNP over Thanksgiving?" I keep getting more confused the more I dig in.

[c9h13no3]

We are/were planning on stopping in the Inyo just South of Mono Lake, but now I'm seeing that 120 closes in October. CURVEBALL!

The closure is typically from the junction with Big Oak Flat Rd in the west, to Poole Power Plant Rd in the east (the closure gate is here on Streetview). If you're coming from farther north on 395, this closure won't change your plans to camp south of Mono Lake.

[eyemgh]

We are/were planning on stopping in the Inyo just South of Mono Lake, but now I'm seeing that 120 closes in October. CURVEBALL!

The closure is typically from the junction with Big Oak Flat Rd in the west, to Poole Power Plant Rd in the east (the closure gate is here on Streetview). If you're coming from farther north on 395, this closure won't change your plans to camp south of Mono Lake.

That makes sense that it would close in the Tioga Pass direction, but both the Inyo Atlas and the Google label 120 just South of South Tufa/Navy Beach as closed in the winter too. It looks there's a gate just East of the intersection where Test Station Rd. Ts into 120. I guess worst case, we could pop the top west of that.

Is the land between Panum Crater and Williams Butte BLM? Private? Other? Not looking to get shot or anything like that.

[Wandering Daisy]

Perhaps a more scenic driving down via 395 and just bomb back quickly on I-5. There is a chance that 395 will have some snow storms in late November. We do many trips to Durango CO in November and once barely got over the Sierra before roads were snowy, which would have stopped us because we were hauling a trailer. When we do these trips we stay flexible, and choose our routes to and from based on current weather reports and check road conditions often. I like "one stop shop for travelers" website.

http://oss.weathershare.org/?clat=37.71 ... 3Iw7hSSm70

[c9h13no3]

Is the land between Panum Crater and Williams Butte BLM? Private? Other? Not looking to get shot or anything like that.

Here's a "teach a man to fish" moment. Go to Caltopo.com, and make sure you've selected the "Public Lands Layer" on the right. This will at least tell you which public agency regulates the land. In general, any national forest land that isn't posted for "no camping outside of designated campgrounds" is A-OK. Course, right now in fire season, a lot of the forests are closed to dispersed camping, so exceptions do exist. And there are often privately leased inholdings on NF land, as I'm sure you're aware. But finding dispersed camping around 395 has never been an issue for me.

I know 120 east is at least open into October, since Sagehen summit is a huge fall color spot. To be fully honest, I don't pay much attention to road closures in that direction, since no one skis out that way. But it's only ~7000 feet in elevation, I'd think it'd take a pretty big storm to get good snow coverage down there.

Caltopo.png

[eyemgh]

Perhaps a more scenic driving down via 395 and just bomb back quickly on I-5. There is a chance that 395 will have some snow storms in late November. We do many trips to Durango CO in November and once barely got over the Sierra before roads were snowy, which would have stopped us because we were hauling a trailer. When we do these trips we stay flexible, and choose our routes to and from based on current weather reports and check road conditions often. I like "one stop shop for travelers" website.

http://oss.weathershare.org/?clat=37.71 ... 3Iw7hSSm70

Thanks for the link!

That's what we were thinking. Down the Eastern Sierras and back North via I-5.

We aren't worried about the snow per se. We are a ski race family and have many snowy miles under our wheels. The only thing that has stopped us in the past was road closure. We just want to stay low enough that if we do get unexpectedly snowed on, we don't meet enough that we get trapped temporarily.

[eyemgh]

Is the land between Panum Crater and Williams Butte BLM? Private? Other? Not looking to get shot or anything like that.

Here's a "teach a man to fish" moment. Go to Caltopo.com, and make sure you've selected the "Public Lands Layer" on the right. This will at least tell you which public agency regulates the land. In general, any national forest land that isn't posted for "no camping outside of designated campgrounds" is A-OK. Course, right now in fire season, a lot of the forests are closed to dispersed camping, so exceptions do exist. And there are often privately leased inholdings on NF land, as I'm sure you're aware. But finding dispersed camping around 395 has never been an issue for me.

I know 120 east is at least open into October, since Sagehen summit is a huge fall color spot. To be fully honest, I don't pay much attention to road closures in that direction, since no one skis out that way. But it's only ~7000 feet in elevation, I'd think it'd take a pretty big storm to get good snow coverage down there.



Caltopo.png

THANK YOU! I love forums like this. See one, do one, teach one.

So cool that it has the MVUM overlay. It's much easier to use when the two maps are hybridized.